Deadline in the Press
Check out Katy Chevigny's interview with WBEZ in Chicago for Eight Forty-Eight. This interview was to promote the one week theatrical run of Deadline at the Gene Siskel Film Center which began on June 4, 2004.
NBC ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE NEWS
Posted: Wed., Apr. 7, 2004, 4:52pm PT
Peacock's 'Dateline' picks up indie doc
Sundance pic sells for six figures to NBC News
By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK
In the first-ever such deal for an indie film production, NBC News' "Dateline" has acquired the North American rights to air the docu feature "Deadline" during a two-hour primetime special this summer.
A captivated NBC chair-CEO Bob Wright spotted the documentary when it premiered in competition at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and personally approached the filmmakers following the screening.
Unusual pickup underscores the way in which prime doc forums, such as Sundance, have moved considerably higher on the acquisitions radar, both for theatrical distribs and television buyers.
"Deadline" recounts the unprecedented decision by Illinois Gov. George Ryan to (issue blanket clemency) all death row inmates during his final days in office.
Doc was directed by Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson and produced by Chevigny and Dallas Brennan for Big Mouth Prods. in association with the nonprofit Arts Engine Inc.
NBC News deal was rumored to be in the six figures.
A spokeswoman for "Dateline" said a firm airdate has not been set. Doc could also air in repeats on Peacock properties MSNBC and Bravo.
"This is an important collaboration that I am hopeful will have implications for independent media makers everywhere," Chevigny said.
Deadline: Documentary. Directed by Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson.
(Not rated. 90 minutes. At the Roxie.)
President Bush makes a brief appearance in "Deadline," and it's hard not to contrast his "absolute" position on capital punishment with that of another Republican, George H. Ryan, who was equally convinced about the fairness of the death penalty until he was elected governor of Illinois. Ryan's decision to grant clemency to every death row inmate in his state made international headlines last year and is the subject of this important documentary.
Filmmakers Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson examine Ryan's decision through one primary portal: Scores of people in America (mostly poor and minority) have been wrongly convicted of crimes and sentenced to death. This is an indisputable fact, thanks to advances in DNA testing and the dogged work of organizations like the Center on Wrongful Convictions, whose legal director, Lawrence C. Marshall, is interviewed at depth in "Deadline."
Also interviewed are former convicts whose lives were spared because of new evidence or legal appeals, and journalists who documented misdoings in Illinois' justice system, but a strength of "Deadline" is that it's not polemical. There is no rage here or Michael Moore-like bluster. Instead, "Deadline" is a straightforward, compassionate look at a volatile subject.
We see footage of victims' families appearing before clemency judges and arguing that executions are the only action that will ease their grief. We see footage of a Mississippi warden personally involved in the executions of death row inmates, who says that such killings are a necessary evil. And we hear lawyer and best-selling author Scott Turow wonder if there can ever be a U.S. legal system that (rightfully, in his mind) continues to execute confessed serial killers like John Wayne Gacy but spares those whose guilt is in doubt.
"Deadline" is so named because Ryan gave himself a deadline to decide the fates of those on Illinois' death row. In 2000, Ryan issued a moratorium on the death penalty after 13 people awaiting execution were found to be innocent. For the next two years, advocates and opponents of the death penalty lobbied Ryan, who ordered a panel to investigate Illinois' capital punishment system. The governor also ordered public clemency hearings for every death row convict. Not until his final days in office did Ryan decide what to do.
The death penalty has become such a divisive issue that it's easy to forget that people such as Ryan are open to rethinking their positions. Showing Ryan's metamorphosis (he's been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize) is one of this film's most heady achievements.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
April 08, 2004
Sundance docu 'Deadline' to get 'Dateline' airing
NEW YORK -- Primetime TV magazine "Dateline NBC" has licensed the Sundance documentary "Deadline" to run as a two-hour broadcast in the summer. The film, directed by Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson, follows Illinois Gov.George Ryan's final months in office, leading up to a landmark decision to offer blanket clemency to the state's death row inmates. The film was produced by Dallas Brennan and Chevigny through Big Mouth Prods. in
association with Arts Engine. Ben Feldman and Andrew Hurwitz of Epstein,
Levinsohn, Bodine, Hurwitz and Weinstein brokered the pact with NBC's David
Sternlicht and Leah Cohen. NBC has exclusive North American broadcast rights
for one year. (Ian Mohr)
DATELINE MEETS DEADLINE: Dateline NBC is going indie! The TV show has licensed Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson's documentary "Deadline," which premiered at Sundance, for a two-hour primetime broadcast this summer. The film chronicles former Illinois Governor George Ryan's last months in office and his decision to offer clemency to everyone on the state's death row. After airing on "Dateline," the doc may also air on MSNBC and Bravo. NBC's Robert Wright approached the filmmakers after seeing "Deadline" in Park City; the company has acquired exclusive North American broadcast rights for one year. Ben Feldman and Andrew Hurwitz of Epstein, Levinsohn, Bodine, Hurwitz, and Weinstein LLP of New York and NBC's David Sternlicht and Leah Cohen negotiated the deal.
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REVIEWS
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
"...'Deadline' is all the more effective because it is calm, factual and unsensational. There are times when we are confused by its chronology and by how its story threads fit together, but it makes an irrefutable argument: Our criminal justice system is so flawed, especially when it deals with the poor and the nonwhite, that we cannot be sure of the guilt of many of those we put to death. George Ryan, not running for re-election, faced that truth and commuted those sentences, and said he could live with his decision. George Bush was absolutely confident he was right to allow 152 prisoners to die. He could live with his decision, too."
Chicago Sun-Times
Richard Roeper
“…Deadline, an excellent documentary from Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson chronicling the astonishingly flawed criminal justice system in Illinois. The film shines the spotlight on some former Death Row inmates, as well as the Northwestern University students and Chicago Tribune reporters whose work helped persuade Ryan to put a moratorium on executions in Illinois and ultimately to commute the death sentence of 167 Death Row inmates to life in prison without parole.”
The Hollywood Reporter
James Greenberg
"The film is an example of social activism at its best; it's not only enlightening, but it's an engrossing story that a smart television audience should embrace."
"Few issues in American life are as deeply conflicted as capital punishment. "Deadline" does not pretend to be unbiased but makes a powerful case for leniency. Along with Ryan, the docu argues that as long as there is any chance of error, the death penalty is unconscionable in a democracy."
Chicago Tribune
Mark Carro
“Directed by Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson, the movie chronicles the three months from the ex-governor’s call for a death penalty moratorium to his declaration of blanket clemency for 167 Death Row inmates just days before he left office last January.”
State Journal Register, Springfield, IL
Nick Rogers
“…an even-handed documentary that, through archival and interview footage, tackles nearly all the legal, emotional and moral arguments for and against the death penalty.”
“… peels back America’s psyche on the issue, as Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine did with gun violence…”
“In quietly shattering monologues, freed prisoners discuss both remorse and their inability to forget.”
“Chevigny and Johnson track carefully through the many branches of a thorny issue …a well-made documentary…”
Realityfilm.com
“Deadline goes into the debate and decision to change death sentences to life imprisonments after Northwestern University students uncovered evidence exonerating inmate Anthony Porter years earlier.”
Guardian Unlimited (01/23/04)
“…Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson’s Deadline, a chilling documentary on [George Ryan’s] historic decision to suspend the death penalty and commute it to life sentences for everyone on his state’s death row during the final days of his administration.”
Associated Press
Alexandra Sage (AP)
Deadline, directed by Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson, follows the turbulent debate that erupted when Northwestern University journalism students showed that innocent men had been condemned to death row.”
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